PELHAM – Suspended New York City Police Officer Brendan Cronin may have been parked for as long as 10 minutes before unloading bullets into a passing vehicle and seriously injuring a New Rochelle resident, officials said.

More information on the case has emerged since Cronin, 27, was arrested Tuesday after allegedly firing at least 14 bullets into a vehicle stopped at a traffic light at Lincoln and Sixth avenues. Six bullets struck and seriously injured the vehicle's passenger, Joseph Felice.

The extended time Cronin spent pulled over at the side of the road and reports he may have been asked to leave a City Island bar before heading to Pelham are among the new details of the police investigation, which includes checking nearby video surveillance, Police Chief Joseph Benefico said.

Brendan Cronin, an off-duty New York City police officer from Yonkers accused of firing at least 13 shots at a car and striking a New Rochelle man six times, appears in Pelham Town Court, May 1, 2014. (Video courtesy of WNBC-TV/New York)
Video courtesy of WNBC-TV/New York

Cronin, who remains free on $150,000 bail under the condition he doesn't drive, was reportedly at a New York City Police Department shooting range earlier in the day and allegedly drinking later.

Benefico said he didn't want to speculate about Cronin's mindset at the time of the shooting.

"I've been going to gun ranges (for a long time)," Benefico said. "I don't head home and say, 'I'm a crack shot, let me take a few shots.' "

Benefico also denied Cronin, of Yonkers, received preferential treatment; Cronin's relatives were allowed to hug and kiss him before he was taken to the Westchester County jail. It's unusual for relatives to be allowed physical contact with suspects; however, Benefico said it has happened in the past in Pelham, citing the arraignment of Olivier Famby, a New Rochelle man who robbed several Metro-North commuters in 2012 and was allowed to say goodbye to his mother before being sent to jail.

"There was no special treatment," Benefico said. "If (Cronin) got special treatment, he would have gotten away that night."